Ranking every Hong Kong film released in 2019, from worst to best – was this the year the industry hit rock bottom?
- Unflinching in his criticism, unstinting in his praise, film editor Edmund Lee looks back over the year’s releases from old hands and new talent
- Louis Koo was everywhere, as usual, Fruit Chan was back, Simon Yam impressed, Sammi Cheng had two top-10 films, and as for Derek Tsang …
Hong Kong cinema, like the city it once inspired and in which it prospered, may have hit rock bottom in 2019.
On the one hand, in a creative industry where most of the heavy hitters are pro-Beijing businessmen who won’t gamble on their earnings at the Chinese box office, major productions rarely take artistic risks.
One only need to look at how veteran Hong Kong filmmakers have applied their skills to making patriotic fluff ( The Climbers , The Captain ), awkwardly played up the role of Chinese law enforcement ( P Storm , Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch ), or attacked white supremacy in America ( Ip Man 4: The Finale ), to know where their hearts are.
On the other hand, the anti-government protests in Hong Kong have, not surprisingly, led to delays in releasing locally made films – and not just because cinemas temporarily shut down at the height of the social unrest.
But political correctness cuts both ways. Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung’s Better Days was robbed of a Berlin festival premiere and a shot at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards in a year in which China’s censors went into overdrive ahead of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic. Meanwhile, the cinematic release of The Attorney, an upcoming film exploring issues of justice, is in doubt.
